It's official: names of the Games worth their wait in green and gold

Adrian Proszenko

WITH less than five weeks to the London Olympics, Australians are looking to the pool to provide sporting glory and infamy. Gold medals, swimming stars and scandals feature prominently in people's minds ahead of the London games according to a new survey that also reveals who our favourite Olympians are.

Medal hopes rest on the substantial (but slightly dodgy) shoulders of swimmer Stephanie Rice, dubbed Australia's most popular and recognisable athlete in an Olympics survey for The Sunday Age. The triple gold-medallist was rated the athlete Australians are most eager to watch in London, followed by 100-metre world freestyle champion James Magnusson.

But more people are interested in the flummery of the opening ceremony than any sporting contest, with 74 per cent of those surveyed online last month saying they would watch the event on July 27. Swimming was second on the list of most anticipated Olympic events, followed by the closing ceremony, athletics, gymnastics and diving.

Admired Olympians - Past and Present Top 11

Australian swimmers can't help but attract attention, in and out of the water. Butterfly swimmer Nick D'Arcy - perhaps better known as a bankrupt, pistol-wielding pugilist - was fifth on the list of Australia's most recognised current Olympians, equal with Tour de France winner Cadel Evans.

Swimming again polled strongly: seven of our top 11 most admired Olympians were swimmers; while Rice was the only current competitor to make the list. ''Australians like to get a swag of gold medals and usually they look to the pool first,'' said Richard Cashman, director of the Australian Centre for Olympic Studies at the University of Technology, Sydney. ''It's much harder for us to succeed in athletics because a lot more countries do well in it. Swimming is a smaller pool, if you will excuse the pun, so we have a chance to do well.''

Dr Cashman said the sporting stature of ''legendary'' swimmers such as Hackett would also prevail over recent controversies. ''His swimming reputation is so secure that I think all this other stuff doesn't amount to much in the public's mind,'' he said.

Women swimmers polled especially well. Rice was recognised by 84 per cent of those surveyed, followed by Libby Trickett (78 per cent) and Leisel Jones (77 per cent). Six of the top 10 most recognised athletes were women, who also included tennis player Samantha Stosur, hurdler Sally Pearson and cyclist Anna Meares.

Rice, 24, said she was ''blessed'' by such support but cautioned that she was a ''completely different person'' to the swimmer who won three gold medals in Beijing. ''I've not had the greatest lead-up with all the shoulder problems I've had,'' she said. ''It's very frustrating to know I can't do as much in the pool as I could four years ago.''

■ Julia Gillard may have missed the Olympic dinner in her name last night in Melbourne but VIPs including Dawn Fraser, Kieren Perkins, Shane Gould, Paul Keating, Tony Abbott, Kevin Rudd and Wayne Swan (representing the PM) helped raised a record $2 million for Australia's London-bound team.